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The Outsiders form in the fictional Eastern European country of Markovia. Batman and Black Lightning have traveled there in order to free the captive Lucius Fox from Baron Bedlam, who has killed the country's king, King Viktor. Geo-Force himself is the prince of the country who gains powers from Markovia's top scientist, Dr. Helga Jace, in order to stop Bedlam. Metamorpho is searching for Dr. Jace in order for the doctor to help him with his powers. Katana arrives in Markovia in order to kill General Karnz, Bedlam's military commander, as vengeance for her family. During the adventure, Batman finds a young amnesiac girl exhibiting light-based powers in the woods, who he dubs Halo. The team bands together and defeats Baron Bedlam and decides to stay together afterwards. They fight such villains as Agent Orange, the Fearsome Five and the Cryonic Man.

Recurring foes are the Masters of Disaster (New Wave, Shakedown, Windfall, Heatwave and Coldsnap), who at one point are almost able to kill Black Lightning. Windfall becomes disenchanted with her team and joins the Outsiders. Similar recurring opponents are the Force of July, a group of patriotic metahumans who also regularly came into contact with the Suicide Squad. During this time, Geo-Force's sister Terra dies as a traitor to the Teen Titans. Batman reveals his real identity as Bruce Wayne to the team, although they have already learned it. Eventually, the origin of Halo is revealed, and Emily Briggs (who during a later adventure becomes the superheroine Looker and joins the team) is introduced. Denise Howard, the love interest of Geo-Force also appears for the first time.

Baron Bedlam later returns to life. With the assistance of the Masters of Disaster and Soviet forces, he again tries to retake control of Markovia. Batman withholds this information, angering the rest of the team. This eventually leads to Batman disbanding the team and returning to the Justice League. The team nonetheless travels to Markovia, discovering many Markovian military casualties. They are defeated by the Masters and learn that Bedlam has cloned Adolf Hitler. The younger clone commits suicide in horror of the actions his original self perpetrated. The Outsiders become unofficial agents of Markovia, so that they receive Markovian funding. The team moves to Los Angeles, as Geo-Force leaves behind his girlfriend Denise and Looker separates from her husband.

The team have moved into a new headquarters in Los Angeles, and once again become involved in an adventure with the Force of July, ending in Moscow. Villains such as the Duke of Oil, and the Soviet superteam the People's Heroes are introduced during this time. The team's adventures take them all over the globe, most notably when the Outsiders' plane is shot down and the team is marooned on a deserted island for three weeks. Tensions rise as Geo-Force tries to resign his leadership and he and Looker give into temptation. Eventually, they are found and are able to leave. Even more troubles arise when a detective is hired to look into Looker's private life (now working as a model under the alias of Lia Briggs), who learns of her actual identity of Emily. The detective tries to blackmail her, but she hypnotizes him, and he leaves. However, he is shortly killed afterwards and Looker is arrested. The Outsiders however are able to clear her name.

The Outsiders are reunited with Batman when they band together to fight Eclipso. After the adventure Batman gives them access to a Batcave situated in Los Angeles, and the team is also infiltrated by the clone of Windfall. Meanwhile, Looker and Geo-Force feel guilt over their affair and eventually call it off, and Metamorpho faces his own personal problems with his lover Sapphire Stagg. The clone of Windfall is ultimately killed and the Masters of Disaster are defeated as the real Windfall joins the team. The team also come in contact with the other Los Angeles based team, Infinity, Inc.

The team is next involved with the company wide crossover event Millennium, wherein it is revealed that Dr. Jace is an operative of the villainous Manhunters and kidnaps the team. The team, now also joined by the Atomic Knight, are able to free themselves, but Dr. Jace blows up both herself and Metamorpho. Looker is called to return to Abyssia, the origin of her powers, where she must also face the Manhunters. During the course of the adventure, she is drained of much of her power and returns to her normal form. Halo is hit in crossfire, saving Katana's life, and slips into a coma, as Katana vows to look after her. The team is disbanded by Geo-Force as Looker returns to her husband, and Batman has since rejoined the Justice League.

Declared a traitor in his native Markovia, Geo-Force is forced to seek the help of old and new Outsiders to battle the vampire lord who controls his country. This is later coupled with the framing of the Outsiders for the slaughter of a Markovian village, and thus the Outsiders are forced into hiding. This fugitive status motivates the Atomic Knight to go after the Outsiders, hoping to bring in his former allies without too much trouble. He's eventually convinced of their innocence and joins them at a later juncture. The new members who join the team in Markovia are the magician Faust, the warsuit-wearing engineer and industrialist Technocrat, and Wylde, a friend of Technocrat's who has been turned into a mountain bear by Faust's uncontrollable magic. During the initial confrontation with the vampires, Looker is apparently killed. Hiding out in Gotham City, the Outsiders take another loss, as both Halo and Technocrat's wife Marissa are killed. This happens during a fight with 'Batman', or rather the man standing in for Bruce Wayne: Jean-Paul Valley. However, Halo's spirit survives in the reanimated body of Marissa. For some time afterwards, Technocrat has trouble accepting that his wife is dead; after all, her body is still walking around but the spirit is that of Halo. Eventually, it turns out that Looker is not dead, but undead. The Outsiders find her and free her from the vampire king's control.

After the defeat of the vampires, two teams, (one composed of Geo-Force, Katana and Techonocrat and another composed of the Eradicator, Looker, Halo, Wylde and Faust), claim the name the Outsiders, even though both teams are still considered fugitives for some time, thanks to some questionable tactics by their new members. During this time, the teams learn that Halo's original body has been brought back to life by the Kobra terrorist organization. In control of the body is Violet Harper, the evil woman whose body Halo originally inhabited. She now has abilities similar to Halo's and ends up calling herself Spectra, and joining Strike Force Kobra alongside Dervish and Windfall. Both Kobra and Violet Harper are defeated.
The two teams unite to confront Felix Faust, father to the Outsider Faust. During the confrontation, the bear-like Wylde betrays the team when Felix promises to restore his humanity. The team is able to defeat Felix Faust and Wylde eventually becomes an actual bear, without the ability to speak, and locked up in a zoo. The title ends with the clearing of the Outsiders' names and the wedding of Geo-Force and Denise Howard.

This new team is put together in the wake of the Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day crossover that dissolves both groups. Arsenal accepts the sponsorship offer of the Optitron corporation and uses the money to buy an enormous bomb shelter that used to belong to a multimillionaire and renovated it to create the group headquarters. He recruits a group of young heroes, the last of them being his friend Nightwing, who joins reluctantly. Instead of functioning in a reactive capacity like most other super-hero teams, Nightwing decides that this group should act as hunters, tracking down super-villains before they can cause problems.

Former Outsiders Technocrat and Looker are in close proximity of Breach when he explodes in the Battle of Metropolis. Their fates are unclear. Roy Harper is saved by Superman from Doomsday. Captain Marvel Junior was sent to Earth-S when it was reformed. When New Earth came, he went with other heroes who could fly to fight Superboy-Prime. In the Infinite Crisis hardcover, Freddy joined alongside the other Titans to take down members of the Society who tried to kill Robin.

After Infinite Crisis the Outsiders are "officially" no more. Because of the Freedom of Power Treaty, the Outsiders have been operating covertly outside of the United States. Most of the members were presumed dead until a botched mission forces them to reveal their presence. Following the revelation of their continued existence, they are recruited by Checkmate to pursue missions which Checkmate cannot support publicly. Checkmate's assignment as part of the "CheckOut" crossover arc involves dispatching the Outsiders to Oolong Island in China, the scene of World War III the previous year. The mission goes disastrously when Chang Tzu manages to capture Owen Mercer and Checkmate's Black Queen, until both sides are eventually bailed out by Batman. In the aftermath, Nightwing decides to give Batman control of the team once more.

Batman holds tryouts to determine who will be on the team in a series of one-shots called Five of a Kind, and angers several members who feel he has no right to remove people already on the team. Captain Boomerang leaves the team for Waller's Suicide Squad and Nightwing decides to take no part in the Outsiders' questionable activities. Katana is chosen as the team's first official member, with the Martian Manhunter, Metamorpho, and Grace as later recruits. Thunder is kicked off the team and Aquaman is rejected as a member because Batman feels he doesn't match up to his predecessor, Orin. Batman then tells the other members that "Whether you like it or not, you're here to save the world. And you're going to be hated for it." After the team's first official mission in Outsiders #50, Catwoman overheard the other recruits' talking about the team being "down by law", and said, "Batman can't possibly start up his own crew of super-crooks without me in it!" Despite being initially turned down, it seems as though Aquaman will also be joining the team, as he appears on several of the upcoming covers.

After the 'death' of Batman during Final Crisis, Batman's butler, Alfred, finds a hidden chamber with a computer in it with Batman's last words for Alfred and other members of the Bat-Family. Alfred is asked to lead a new group of Outsiders that have certain characteristics of the Dark Knight since Batman is 'dead.' Alfred finds and recruits: Black Lightning, Halo, Katana, Geo-Force, The Creeper, Metamorpho, and Owlman ( Roy Raymond, Jr.). Alfred tells these heroes that they need to cut ties with their old lives as now they will be in constant front line of battle and gives them the choice of not joining. All the heroes mentioned joins The Outsiders.

In "Batman: Leviathan Strikes", Batman forms a new Outsiders team to act as a black-ops team for Batman Inc. The team consists of Halo, Metamorpho, Katana, Freight Train, and Looker and the team is led by Red Robin. But on their first mission, the whole team (except for Red Robin) were caught in an explosion set off by Lord Death Man. In the first issue of the 2012 Batman Inc. series, the team is revealed to have survived the explosion.